Heavy Social Media Stands in the Way of World Happiness

Rob Horowitz, MINDSETTER™

Heavy Social Media Stands in the Way of World Happiness

 
PHOTO: Andre Hunter, Unsplash
The outsized contribution the heavy use of social media is making to a continuing decline in wellbeing among youth in English-speaking nations is one of the top findings of the recently released 2026 World Happiness Report.  Informed by data from the Gallup World Poll as well as by subject matter experts, the report itself zeroes in on the growing connection between social media and unhappiness.
 
Overall, happiness rankings among nations stayed relatively stable this year.  The Nordic nations remain at the top of the pack with Finland once again receiving the distinction of having the world’s happiness people. The other Nordic nations, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands, are all ranked in the top 7. Costa Rica moved up to 4th, the highest ranking ever for a Latin America nation. Israel, Luxembourg, and Switzerland round out the top 10. 

 

These annual rankings are based on people envisioning at what step they would place themselves on a ladder where the bottom (0) is the worst possible life, and the top or 10th step is the best possible life.  One of the reasons people in the United States and some other Western nations are not as happy, according to the report, is the heavy use of social media, particularly among youth. Despite its relative wealth, the United States, for instance, ranks only 23rd in terms of happiness; in 2025, it ranked 24th.

 

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“Life evaluations among under 25s in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have dropped dramatically (by almost one point on a 0-10 scale) over the past decade, while the average for the young in the rest of the world has increased,” wrote the report’s authors. Among the factors is heavy social media use in these nations. An international survey of 15-year-olds in nearly 50 countries, referred to in the report, finds “heavy social media use is associated, on average, with a significant drop in wellbeing among the students surveyed.” In contrast, “young people who use social media for less than one hour per day report the highest levels of happiness. Unfortunately, teenagers in the United States are spending an average of nearly 5 hours a day on social media, according to Gallup.

 

 

A negative, indirect impact of all the time spent online is a marked drop in strong social connections among youth. Social connections and trust--both major contributors to happiness--are best forged in person--not on computer screens. “In 2023, 19% of young adults across the world reported having no one that they could count on for social support, representing a 39% increase compared to 2006,” last year’s report documented.

 

 

The World Happiness Report adds to a mounting and persuasive body of research documenting the negative impacts of excessive social media use on our youth. To improve the well-being of our nation’s youth, we need to speed up the implementation of restrictions on that use, including expanding the number of phone-free schools and following Australia’s example in prohibiting children under 16 from opening social media accounts.

 

 

In large measure, the happiness of our youth depends on it.


 

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